James Robinson wrote:
Emily wrote:

The tower told the KLM aircraft to stand by at the same time the Pan
Am aircraft transmitted, which resulted in a blocking of both
transmissions. There were many other steps in the accident chain, but
Tenerife was most certainly not caused by a pilot hearing what he
wanted to hear.

Then why did the aircraft start its takeoff roll, if the pilot didn't hear
what he wanted to? The tower only issued the ATC clearance, and the KLM
captain seems to have taken that as permission to take off. What else is
that but hearing what he wanted to?

He didn't hear ANYTHING but a heterodyne. If you want to say he heard
the heterodyne as clearance to take off, fine, but that's not what we're
talking about. The OP stated that AM results in poor transmission
quality and therefore pilots will hear what they want to hear. In this
case, the pilots heard nothing, and a high ranking captain blatantly
ignored both ATC and his own f/e.